Interview with Modibinnie. Park's speech. Reaches Sansanding.
Death of Mr. Anderson. Park builds a schooner. Letters from Sansanding.
Departs from Sansanding. Uncertainty respecting his fate. Isaaco's
narrative. Confirmed by subsequent travellers. Account of Park's death.
His character.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Expedition of Tuckey - of Peddie - and Gray.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Major Denham, Captain Clapperton, and Dr. Oudney arrive at Mourzouk.
Boo-Khaloom. The desert. Tibboos and Tuaricks. Lake Tchad. Shiek of
Bornou. Expedition to Mandara. Attack on Dirkulla. Defeat of the army.
Major Denham's escape. Death of Boo-Kaloom. Major Denham visits Loggun.
Fishing on the river Yeou. The Shouaa Arabs. Death of Dr. Oudney. Arrival
at Kano. Sockatoo. Denham and Clapperton return by Kouka.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Captain Clapperton sets out on a second journey. Death of three principal
members of the expedition. Clapperton and Lander reach Eyeo. Arrive at
Kacunda. Enter the Borgoo country. Lander's escape from Lions. Kiama.
Boussa. Nyffe. Zeg-Zeg. Attack of Coonia. Residence in Sockatoo. Death
and burial of Clapperton. Lander's return.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Major Laing - his murder. Caillie reaches Timbuctoo. His march across the
Desert.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Richard and John Lander set out. Badagry. Journey to Kiama. African horse
race. Kakafungi. Boussa. Sail up the Niger to Yaoorie. Embark at Boussa.
Island of Zagoshi. Dangerous situation of the travellers. Egga. Hostile
demonstration of the natives. The Landers attacked. Carried to Eboe. King
Obie. Conduct of Captain Lake. Arrive at Fernando Po. Remarks on the
discovery of the Niger's termination.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Messrs Laird, Oldfield, and Lander, set out in the Quorra and Alburkah.
Attack of the natives. Leave Eboe. Mortality on board the vessels.
Capture of an alligator. Aspect of the Niger near the Kong Mountains. The
Quorra aground. Fundah. Mr. Laird returns to the coast. Richard Lander
wounded. His death. Return of the Alburkah. Conclusion.
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
_Progress of African Discovery, before Park's first Expedition. - Park's
Early Life._
The first information we have respecting the interior of Africa is
derived from Herodotus, who, during his residence in Egypt, endeavoured
to collect as much intelligence as possible respecting the general aspect
of the country. He describes it as far less fertile than the cultivated
parts of Europe and Asia, and much exposed to drought, with the exception
of a few verdant spots. To the northern coast, he gives the name of the
forehead of Africa; and says that immediately south from it, the
comparative fertility of the soil rapidly decreases. There are natural
hills of salt, out of which the inhabitants scoop houses to shelter
themselves from the weather; rain they have not to fear, as scarcely a
drop ever alights upon that sultry region. Farther south still, there is
no food to support man or beast - neither shrub, nor a single drop of
water; all is silence and utter desolation. Herodotus then proceeds to
relate a number of monstrous fables, which bear an overwhelming
proportion to the parts of his narrative which are now known to be true.
He also describes a large inland river, which some have supposed to be
the Niger, flowing from west to east. He acquired this information from
the reports of various travellers, who stated that after a long journey
to the interior, they had themselves seen it. This account was confirmed
by several other ancient authors; but for a long time the question was
agitated by modern writers as to whether the Gambia or the Senegal was
not the river spoken of; some even denying the existence of the Niger
altogether.
The fables of Herodotus were repeated, with a number of additions, by
Diodorus; but the narrative of Strabo, in regard to the northern and
western coasts, is somewhat more particular and authentic: it adds
nothing, however, to our acquaintance with the interior. The Greeks,
under the government of the Ptolemies, navigated the Red Sea, and carried
on a trade with Egypt; and some settlements were made by them in that
country. Ptolemy Euergetes conquered part of Abyssinia, and established a
kingdom, of which Axum was the metropolis; and remains of Grecian
architecture have since been found in that quarter. To the two districts
we have mentioned, the knowledge which the ancients possessed of Africa
was almost exclusively confined; though Herodotus speaks of two voyages
which had been undertaken with a view to determine the shape of the
continent; but as nothing interesting can be gleaned from his indistinct
narrative, and as the reality even of these voyages has been disputed, it
seems unnecessary to give any account of them.
As in this brief sketch we are to confine ourselves entirely to
discoveries made in the interior of Africa, we shall not mention either
the various voyages made along the shores, or the different settlements
formed upon the coast, as this would lead us far beyond our narrow
limits.
The Arabians were the first who introduced the camel into Africa, an
animal whose strength and swiftness peculiarly suited it for traversing
the immense expanse of burning sands. By means of caravans, the Arabians
were enabled to hold intercourse with the interior, whence they procured
supplies of gold and slaves; and many of them migrated to the south of
the Great Desert. Their number rapidly increased, and being skilled in
the art of war, they soon became the ruling power. They founded several
kingdoms; the principal one, called Gano, soon became the greatest market
for gold, and, under the name of Kano, is still extensive and populous,
being the chief commercial place in the interior of Africa. The Arabian
writers of the twelfth century, give the most gorgeous, and we fear
overrated, accounts of the flourishing state of these kingdoms.
In the fourteenth century, Ibn Batuta, an abridged account of whose
travels has been recently translated by Professor Lee of Cambridge, made
a journey into Central Africa. After having travelled twenty-five days
with a caravan, he came to a place which Major Rennel supposes to be the
modern Tisheet, containing the mine whence Timbuctoo is supplied with
salt.
